Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on a State Representative's DUI Plea

This DUI attorney has posted here and here about VIP treatment/professional courtesies.  Today, State Representative Randy Ramey pled guilty to a DUI.

September 26, Chicago, IL:

State Rep. Randy Ramey, the DuPage County Republican Party chairman, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge Monday court and was fined $1,750 and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.

Ramey, who became county party chairman this summer, also was placed on one year of supervision and was ordered to attend a victim impact panel.

“I pled guilty, and I’ll go forward,” he said following his appearance in a DuPage County courtroom. He declined to comment further.

Ramey has served in the General Assembly since 2005, and had previously served on the House Drivers Education and Safety Committee and Transportation and Motor vehicles committee.

Here’s more irony, he used to work for the Illinois Secretary of State, the department that suspends driving privileges for people charged with a DUI.

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on What Happens When They Get It Wrong?

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about  errors.  Still it’s hard for many citizens to accept that the police can be wrong.  It doesn’t make them evil, but the aftermath is devastating for the accused.

From the Picayune Item:

 

The Mississippi Highway Patrol has kicked off its annual campaign against drinking and driving with the motto, “Stay Sober or Get Pulled Over.”

In 2010, there were 231 Mississippi alcohol related fatalities, a disturbing number. We don’tknow if alcohol caused these accidents or not, but we do know one of the drivers was drinking. For the one-third of Americans who don’t drink, the legality of drinking and driving must seem like an abomination. Indeed, alcohol consumption even without a two-ton vehicle causes untold wreckage of lives and human misery.

Two-thirds of Americans find moderate alcohol consumption a pleasant aspect of life. It enhances conviviality, allows one to relax after a hard week’s work and is good for your health. Moderate alcohol consumption can reduce the risk of heart disease and senility. It was no less than Benjamin Franklin who wrote: “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine, a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.” And of course, Jesus turned the water into wine.

 

The American Medical Association, at the request of the Department of Transportation, originally deemed impaired driving to occur at a 0.15 blood alcohol level. Today, half that level — 0.08 — is considered impaired and illegal. The human body hasn’t changed during that time, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving has become a political force that no politician dares question. Driving While Intoxicated has become Driving Under the Influence. The range of acceptable drinking and driving is much more narrow.

There were 33,153 Mississippi DUI arrests last year, an astounding number. If DUIs were randomly distributed, every driver in the state would get at least one during his lifetime. A Colorado study showed that 20 percent of those arrested for DUIs had legal blood alcohol levels. The problem is that residual alcohol in your mouth can distort the results of the unreliable portable breathalyzers police often use to make an arrest.

Applying the Colorado study to Mississippi, 6,500 innocent Mississippians are arrested for DUI each year. Many lack the knowledge or money to fight the charge and just plead guilty. For the innocent, the personal cost of an undeserved DUI is immense: Lost reputations, job opportunities and the 90-day license suspensions. Car insurance rates skyrocket. A DUI often ends up costing $15,000. If police followed the rules, they would never give a breath test without waiting for at least 20 minutes. But Mississippi police are not that patient, especially when quotas need to be met and $30 million in fines is on the line.

Studies show perfectly sober people fail this test half the time. In its eagerness to battle drunk driving, the U.S. Supreme Court has carved out a special place for DUI enforcement, suspending many of the typical civil rights protections afforded by the Constitution.

Who says mistakes aren’t made?

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on Social Media Warnings of Road Side Safety Checks

This Chicago DUI attorney continues to see the usefulness of Social Media. She’s posted about road side safety checks here and here.  Still she admits to being a tad surprised by this Facebook Status Update:

Good afternoon fb be careful on the streets this weekend road side safety checks throughout Chicago!!!! If u live on the west side they're having a check on the 4500 block of Madison tonite so where your seat belts and be careful!!!!!

 Here’s the funny thing about the update, it’s not from law enforcement or a defense attorney, and it’s a concerned citizen.    Oh, and yes here’s a link to confirm what this individual wrote.

Let’s be safe out there!

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on the Courts Protecting the Driving Privileges of the DUI Accused

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about Statutory Summary Suspensions.  That’s the suspension that is triggered simply for being charged with a DUI.  It doesn’t matter if you are guilty of a DUI or not.

Now the 2^nd District has clarified when the accused has a right to file the Petition to Rescind Summary Suspension

From People v. Moreland, 2011 IL App (2d) 100669 (August 8, 2011):

 

At issue in this appeal is whether the 30 days in which a defendant is entitled to a hearing on a petition to rescind the statutory summary suspension of his driving privileges begins to run before the Secretary of State has confirmed the suspension.  The trial court found that it does.  For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

 

Section 2—118.1(b) of the Code is unambiguous.  Id. at 388.  It provides that a defendant

“shall” be given a hearing on his petition to rescind within 30 days after the petition is received.  The word “shall” conveys that the legislature intended to impose a mandatory obligation.  Id. at 382.  That obligation is fulfilled when the defendant has a hearing on his petition to rescind within 30 days after it is filed in the circuit court, with service on the State.  See Bywater, 223 Ill. 2d at 486.  Here, defendant was not given a hearing by June 3, 2010, which was 30 days after he filed his petition.  Thus, the statutory summary suspension of defendant’s driving privileges must be rescinded.  See People v. Schaefer, 154 Ill. 2d 250, 262 (1993).

If you’ve been charged with a DUI you need to get to a knowledgeable lawyer immediately, so that all of your rights can be protected.

Chicago DUI Attorney Answers the Question: Can you help me get this off my record?

 Yes.  But only if you win at trial or the Government is willing to dismiss the charges against you.  I frequently get a bewildered look from folks charged with a DUI or Driving with Suspended/Revoked License when I answer their question.

Yes.  I understand that you knew a guy who got caught with ______________  (Fill in the Blank)                                                                    

and the charges were thrown out or dismissed but in Illinois, a DUI charge or Driving with a Suspended/Revoked License is different.

These offenses, even if you have never been charged with anything before in your entire life, are not expugnable or sealable.  They remain a part of your criminal background.  They don’t fall off after you have successfully completed treatment, paid your court fees and fines, or done your volunteer work or SWAP.

Given that reality, the most important thing you can do is avoid being charged with these offenses in the first place.  I know, you don’t live your life thinking about avoiding criminal charges for driving but perhaps you should.  If you’ve already been charged then you need to quickly get to a knowledgeable defense attorney who can provide you with the information you need to make the best decision. 

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on the Suspended License of a Congressman

This Chicago DUI attorney knows that anyone could end up with a suspended or revoked license.  She’s posted here, here, and here  about the myriad of ways one could have their license suspended.  Still, a congressman, from the Land of Lincoln, driving on a suspended license is a surprise.

July 28, Chicago, Il:

 Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.

“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.

In court documents, after his ex-wife, Laura Walsh, asked a judge to suspend his driver’s license until he paid his child support, Joe Walsh asks his ex-wife’s lawyer: “Have you no decency?”

Staffers learned during the campaign that Walsh was driving on a suspended license. His license was suspended twice in 2008 for his failure to appear in court, and he was cited in 2009 for driving on a suspended license, according to the Illinois Secretary of State.

 Anyone can have their license suspended.

Chicago DUI Attorney Comments on an Increase in Deportations

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here on DUI and immigration issues.  Surprisingly, it appears ICE is using minor crimes, like DUI, to aid in the deportation of individuals accused.

From usatoday.com:

The U.S. deported nearly 393,000 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, half of whom were considered criminals. Of those, 27,635 had been arrested for drunken driving, more than double the 10,851 deported after drunken driving arrests in 2008, the last full year of the Bush administration, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to The Associated Press.

 An additional 13,028 were deported last year after being arrested on less serious traffic law violations, nearly three times the 4,527 traffic offenders deported two years earlier, according to the data.

 Darrel Stephens, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, an organization of sheriffs and police chiefs, said the data show ICE is deporting criminals. He noted that even though traffic offenses have more than doubled, they are just 7 percent of the total criminal deportations. Meanwhile, dangerous drugs and drunken driving deportations comprised 23 percent and 14 percent of the criminal deportations, respectively.

 The drunken driving deportations are particularly important, he said. Fatal drunken driving accidents involving illegal immigrants often cause outrage in communities where they occur.

 "That's a crime that people look at in a very serious way right now," Stephens said.

There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, 7 million to 8 million of whom are believed to be adults.

 Kibble said the numbers show his agency's system of giving priority for deportation to people who pose a public threat is working. Last year, 36,178 criminals were deported as a result of the Secure Communities program, now in place in more than 1,400 jurisdictions, up from 14 in 2008. It's expected to be in more than 3,000 jurisdictions nationally by 2013.

It’s just one more reason to avoid driving at all if you are undocumented, wait unfortunately most of us live and reality and recognize that the undocumented are going to drive whether we provide a valid way for them to do so or not.